Fuse for bombs and other missiles or projectiles



July 25, 1950 MIDGLEY ETAL 2,516,234

FUSE FOR BOMBS AND OTHER MISSILES, 0R PROJECTILES Filed July 16, 1946FlgZ Lz/v 4917721335 1 Patented July 25. 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT FUSEFOR BOMBS AND OTHER BHSSILES OR PROJECTILES Albert Henry Midgley,Northwood, and David Richmond Ashworth, Millbank, England ApplicationJuly 16, 1946, Serial No. 683,830 In Great Britain September 27, 1941 1Claim.

This invention relates to fuzes particularly for incendiary bombs,although the invention may be applied to other projectiles or missilesfor which its use is suitable.

The object of the present invention is to provide an extremely sensitiveform of fuze which, however, may be made safe against prematuredischarge (due for example to being accidentally dropped) within veryclose limits.

The invention consists in a fuze for bombs and other missiles orprojectiles comprising firing mechanism consisting of a fixed part and amovable part, a support for the movable part normally restraining itfrom movement in the firing direction but adapted on the shock of impactto be deformed and to be drawn through an aperture due to the inertia ofthe movable member to permit the necessary movement of the latter tofire the fuze, and means independent of said support for restraining themovable member against movement (due to its inertia) in the reversedirection.

The accompanying drawings illustrate one convenient arrangement inaccordance with the invention.

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation showing part of an incendiary bombwith the invention applied thereto, and

Figure 2 is a part sectional plan of Figure 1.

In carrying our invention into effect in one convenient manner as, forexample, in its application to an incendiary bomb, we provide in arecess in the upper part of the body a of the bomb (to which the usualtail 1) is secured by suitable means) a cap-holder above which ismounted a striker holder 01 held in place by suitable means. The strikerholder has a short sleeve-like extension d projecting slightly above thebody of the bomb and within which is slidable a striker body e. Theupper part of the member e is slightly necked or reduced to provide ashoulder so as to fit within the opening defined by an inturned flange dat the upper part of the sleeve (1' and to lie fiush therewith and thestriker body is supported in this manner by means of a thin brass orother flexible metal star-shaped, cruciform, or similarly shaped memberf having radial fingers and which may, for example, be secured to theouter surface of the reduced end of the striker body by a suitable screwy. The arrangement is such that, due to the restraint imposed on thestriker by the contact between its shouldered portion and the flange 11the striker is restrained from movement, due to its inertia, on theshock of discharge of the bomb or projectile, and since this force doesnot in any way affect the support 1 the latter may be made of thin gaugematerial so that the fuze may be made sufliciently sensitive to operateon impact with soft ground. On impact of the bomb or projectile, theinertia of the striker will come into play and in consequence the edgesof flexible fingers of the support 1 resting upon the flanges 11 will bebent backwards and the support will be drawn through the hole in the endof the sleeve d so as to permit the striker to move into contact withthe detonator and fire the fuze. With such an arrangement it is'possible accurately to calculate the force necessary to cause thesupport to be drawn through the hole and the arrangement gives veryconsistent results so that, for example, it would be quite easy toproduce a fuze which, when dropped on concrete, would operate with adrop of six feet, but would be quite safe and not operate when droppedthrough five feet.

In some cases the striker pin e may form an integral part of the strikerbody e while in other cases it may be constituted by an extension of thescrew 9 by means of which the support I is secured to the striker body.

In an alternative arrangement according to the invention, the strikermay be fixed and the primer may be movable, but normally restrained frommovement by a deformable support such as f.

We claim:

A fuse for bombs or other missiles or projectiles comprising asleeve-like holder having at one end an inturned flange providing anopening, a striker body slidably mounted therein and having one endreduced to provide a shoulder and arranged within the opening in theflange and seated against the flange in such manner that the outersurface of the reduced end lies fiush with the outer end of the flange,and a thin fiat deformable support for the striker body securedexteriorly of the flange to the outer end of the reduced portion of thestriker body and having radial fingers adapted to rest upon said fiangeso as to be drawn through the opening in the flange due to the inertiaof the striker body on the shock of impact to effect the firing of thefuse.

ALBERT HENRY MIDGLEY. DAVID RICHMOND ASHWORTH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,338,802 Walker May 4, 19232,137,983 Remondy Nov. 22, 1938 2,487,789 Carr et a1. Nov. 15, 1949FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 2,769 Great Britain of 1890 342,099France June 28, 1904 577,941 Great Britain June 6, 1946

